U.S. judge Harold Kahn postponed his decision in Western Digital's (WDC) bid to temporarily stop Toshiba (TOSBF) from selling its flash memory unit in a proposed $18B transaction, Reuters reports. Toshiba said in late June that its preferred bidder in the sale was a group made up of Bain Capital, SK Hynix, and Japanese-government backed banks, the report notes. Western Digital sued the Japanese company in San Francisco County Superior Court in mid-June, saying it believed a JV with Toshiba means Toshiba must have its consent to sell the flash business, the report notes. Judge Kahn did not come to a ruling in the case, and a new hearing has been set for July 28, the report says. Reference Link

Barclays analyst Mark Moskowitz downgraded Seagate Technology (STX) to Underweight and cut his price target for the shares to $40 from $49. The data storage provider closed yesterday up 98c to $39.70. The analyst believes upside potential from current levels is limited. He argues Seagate has already removed most of its excess costs and that the company could miss the 12TB transition, thereby ceding high-margin market share to Western Digital (WDC). Further, Seagate's valuation could de-couple from Western Digital if the latter's Toshiba litigation continues to shift in its favor, Moskowitz tells investors in a research note.

07/07/17

SBSH

07/07/17NO CHANGETarget $15.3SBSHBuy

Rambus has good IP value that could compliment Western Digital, says Citi

This afternoon, Bloomberg reported that Rambus (RMBS) is working with a financial advisor on a potential sale of the company. Citi analyst Atif Malik said Rambus' resistive ReRAM storage class technology could have complimentary IP value for other ReRAM storage providers such as Western Digital (WDC) and said China's Tsinghua Group can't be ruled out either given broad memory IP appeal. Malik rates Rambus a Buy with a $15.40 price target.

07/07/17

LBOW

07/07/17NO CHANGELBOW

Western Digital should be bought on weakness, says Longbow

Longbow analyst Joe Wittine says that NAND spot prices rose in June, and he predicts that the price increase "will intensify" in 2H17. He adds that pressure on Western Digital's stock from the uncertainty over Toshiba "should be short-lived," and he recommends that investors buy Western Digital on the current weakness.

06/27/17

AGIS

06/27/17NO CHANGETarget $130AGISBuy

SSD ASP rises may have been 'meaningful' to Western Digital beat, says Aegis

After Western Digital positively pre-announced better than expected June quarter preliminary EPS, Aegis analyst Ananda Baruah said he believes ongoing increases in SSD average selling prices may have been a meaningful contributor to the beat. Western Digital's annual EPS run-rate over the last three quarters is now about $10.50 ahead of the vast majority of the expected $2.00-$3.00 minimum of SanDisk synergies and ahead of any contribution from Toshiba's memory business sale, which Baruah thinks could be an incremental $2.00-$5.00 regardless of sale outcome, he tells investors. The analyst keeps a Buy rating and $130 price target on Western Digital shares.

TOSBFToshiba, also use TOSYY

$2.09

-0.07 (-3.24%)

05/24/17

STFL

05/24/17NO CHANGESTFL

Western Digital acquisition of Toshiba could be 10%-15% accretive, says Stifel

After Kyodo News reported that Western Digital (WDC) has offered to buy Toshiba (TOSBF) for about $18B, Stifel analyst Aaron Rakers estimates that the deal could be 10%-15% accretive for Western Digital at that price. He keeps a $120 price target and a Buy rating on Western Digital.

06/27/17

BTIG

06/27/17NO CHANGEBTIG

Western Digital fundamentals still 'quite strong,' says BTIG

BTIG analyst Edward Parker says that Western Digital's (WDC) "strong preliminary results" indicate that its "fundamentals remain quite strong." The analyst says he doesn't believe that Toshiba (TOSBF, TOSYY) can sell its share in the chip joint venture while Western Digital is seeking injunctive relief. He adds that the intensity of the battle over the joint venture shows that there is widespread optimism about the memory sector. He keeps a $120 price target and a Buy rating on Western Digital.

05/22/17

COWN

05/22/17NO CHANGETarget $115COWNOutperform

Western Digital most strategic buyer of Flash Ventures, says Cowen

Cowen analyst Timothy Arcuri revisited the likelihood of Western Digital (WDC) acquiring the remaining roughly 50% share of Toshiba (TSOBF) Flash Ventures. He believes the deal would be accretive by 10-15% in 2018 and said they remain the most strategic of buyers for the division. Arcuri views Hynix and Micron (MU) as much less likely bidders due to antitrust review, while any deal with Broadcom (AVGO) would have to most likely be backed by fixed economics with Apple (AAPL) or related to Toshiba's discrete/system LSI assets in a Brocade-like (BRCD) deal. Arcuri reiterated his Outperform rating and $115 price target on Western Digital shares.

After meeting with Broadcom's (AVGO) CEO, Nomura analyst Romit Shah thinks that the company tried to buy Toshiba's (TOSBF) NAND flash business. The analyst says that Broadcom's effort should lead investors to question whether Micron (MU) is undervalued. He keeps a $40 price target and Buy rating on the shares.

TOSYYToshiba, also use TOSBF

$12.40

-0.56 (-4.32%)

03/17/17

RBCM

03/17/17NO CHANGERBCM

Western Digital likely to acquire Toshiba, says RBC Capital

After multiple media reports stated that the Japanese government probably won;t rescue Toshiba (TOSBF, TOSYY), RBC Capital analyst Amit Daryanani says that the news "greatly increases" the odds of the company being acquired by U.S. entities. He thinks that Western Digital (WDX), in partnership with private equity firms, is the "high probability acquirer" of the company. By undertaking the deal, Western Digital would "further improve its NAND position and drive significant accretion with an upside bias to our $12.00+ EPS scenario," Daryanani wrote. He kept a $90 price target and an Outperform rating on the shares.

05/18/17

UBSW

05/18/17NO CHANGETarget $21UBSWBuy

Marvell shares will outperform when company addresses trends, says UBS

UBS analyst Stephen Chin laid out three reasons why he still likes Marvell (MRVL) shares. He cited its strong balance sheet and a decision on either a big buyback or an acquisition soon; expectations for storage sales to continue to grow; and his view that the concerns about the possibility of a competitor buying Toshiba's (TOSBF) memory assets are overblown. The analyst feels Marvell's valuation remains attractive and once the company addresses concerns about fundamental trends in storage, the stock should outperform. Chin maintained his Buy rating and $21 price target on Marvell shares.

UBS analyst Stephen Chin commented on the Nikkei report that Broadcom (AVGO) and Silver Lake Partners had submitted a bid to acquire Toshiba's (TOSBF) NAND business for $17.9B, saying he would not be surprised if Broadcom were in fact a bidder but he is not sure if a deal will happen. Depending on the structure of a deal, his pro forma scenarios range from 3% EPS accretion in FY18 to 9% in FY19 accretion, he tells investors. Chin keeps a Buy rating and $245 price target on Broadcom shares, which slid by 0.6% to close at $220.04 yesterday.